WWE SmackDown featured several big surprises, including an injured star’s stunning return from injury, a championship changing hands, and an intense post-match staredown between two unexpected factions. The latest episode, which arrived on Friday from San Jose, featured a clash between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu announced as the main event, but it may not have been the biggest story of the show.
As with previous episodes, Sami Zayn arrived to the ring to have his open challenge for the WWE United States Championship. Surprisingly, The Miz’s music hit, and he arrived on the ramp to trash-talk Sami, saying he was sick of this challenge constantly happening.
The Miz’s speech didn’t last long, as his new rival, Carmelo Hayes, came out from backstage to attack The Miz for previous issues between them. That fight got broken up by WWE security, and a contender then arrived out to challenge Sami.
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A surprise arrived when Ilja Dragunov returned after over a year away from WWE programming due to a brutal ACL injury. As the commentators noted, Sami was likely unprepared for the shocking challenger, having probably not expected him.
Their match featured a significant exchange of offensive firepower, but, as with other matches, a distraction may have been the deciding factor. At one point, Solo Sikoa walked out from backstage to gesture towards Sami.
With Sami’s back turned, Dragunov tried to hit a move near the corner, but Sami dodged it and slammed his opponent back overhead. The two superstars continued to trade moves with one another in a frantic finish.
After several kick-out moments, the match finale saw Dragunov connect on an H-Bomb shortly after Solo’s appearance. That gave him a pinfall victory and a shocking United States Championship win in his huge return.
The 32-year-old Russian has now added the United States Championship to his accomplishments in WWE. He’s also held the NXT Championship and NXT United Kingdom Championship during his career.
Dragunov also made history as the first official Russian-born pro wrestler to win a championship within WWE.
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After the match, Dragunov celebrated his win, and Sami walked closer to him, but before anything could happen, Solo returned with his group to attack the two competitors. While Rey Fenix rushed to the ring to try to attack Solo, he also received a beatdown.
In another big surprise, the lights went off, and a message appeared on the big screen from Bo Dallas and The Wyatt Sicks, putting Solo and his men on notice. As the lights returned, the group was on the apron and got into the ring to stare down Solo’s MFT group.
It’s unclear what this could lead to, although a match at Survivor Series: War Games between members of MFT and The Wyatt Sicks seems like a possibility.
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In addition to that match, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair withstood a championship challenge from NXT’s Sol Ruca and Zaria. Another NXT star, Blake Monroe, watched from a front row seat near the ring, which caused a distraction for Sol. Charlotte took advantage by taking out one of her legs near the barricade and later applied a Figure Four in the ring to make her tap out.
For the main event, Jacob Fatu was supposed to battle Drew McIntyre in a No. 1 contender’s match for Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship. However, a backstage attack occurred with a piece of equipment that was dropped on Fatu, resulting in his removal from the match due to a bloody injury.
Due to that situation, SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis came out to confront Drew, followed by Cody Rhodes walking out to yell at Drew for what happened to Fatu. Cody, wearing business attire, attacked Drew at ringside and through the crowd. They eventually got into the ring for an impromptu match, which ended with a disqualification and a post-match brawl.
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